elward



2 sheets -sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. H. ELWARD.

TRACTION ENGINE.

Patented 001:. 2'7, 1885.

-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHII Inz/ en???) N. PETERS Fholo-Lillmgmplmr. Washington, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. ELWARD, or POLO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MARY ELWARD, or

SAME PLACE.

TRACTION-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,153, dated October 27, 1885.

Application filed October 31, 1882. Serial No. 75,561. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. ELWARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at P010, in the county of Ogle and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Traction-Engines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of atraction-engine having my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a top or plan View. Fig. 3 is an end view. Fig. 4 is a detached view of the clutch mechanism. Fig. 5 is avertical section on the line w as, Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is ahorizontal section of a drive-wheel and the combined frictionclutch and compensating gear applied thereto. Fig. 7 shows a modified form of gearing.

As the boiler, the engine, the supporting and traction wheels are substantially the same in construction as the corresponding parts shown in my Patent N 0. 253,033, Iwill not describe these parts, except as far as may be necessary in order to illustrate the invention for which protection is sought in"this case, referring to my earlier patent above mentioned for a fuller description of such devices as are common to both constructions.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, A is the engine-shaft, having keyed to it a sleeve or thimble, a". G is asleeve mounted loosely upon the thimble a", and expanded at one end to form one member, 0 c 0, of a clutch, which consists, essentially, of two opposing flanges, O 0, each provided with concentric rings, which project from their inner faces, respectively, in such position as to overlap and engage With each other when one member is thrust into contact with the other, these rings being wedge-shaped in cross-section,as plainly shown in Fig. 4, the opposing members 0 0 being keyed to crank-shaft A".

d d are rings or flanges keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to the engine-shaft.

F is a collar or ring between the flanges d d, and supported upon said flanges, which are provided with inwardly-projecting shoulders to receive and support the ring.

F is a sliding bar supported in standards G, and provided at one end with a fork, g, which takes hold of or is attached to the ring F. In

practice I prefer to make this connection by means of loops or ears 6 6 upon opposite sides of the ring, under or into which the ends of the lever-fork are thrust.

H is a sliding bar, also supported in standards G G, and carrying at one end a fork, h, which takes into or is attached to a ring, I, which is mounted upon the sleeve 0, between a gear, B cast in one piece with sleeve e,and the member 0 c c of the clutch. I prefer to connect the fork of lever H with the ring by means of loops 2', (see Fig. 2,) formed upon its opposite sides, and under or through which the spread ends of the fork are thrust.

J is a lever pivoted to the sliding bars F H, and K is a hand-lever, pivoted at one end to lever J and extending thence rearward to a point within convenient reach of the operator, where it rests upon a ratcheted locking-plate, k, or its equivalent.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 5, I is a bracket attached to the boiler, its supporting end engaging with the ring I'or the lower loop of said ring in such manner as to sustain the weight of the ring, the gear-wheel B and the member 0 c c of the clutch, which would otherwise rest upon the thimble a".

L is a gear supported upon the engine and meshing with gear B L is a bevel-wheel attached to or cast in one piece with spur-gear L, and meshing with the bevel-gear M, the shaft N of which is supported in suitable bearings, n n.

O is a sleeve mounted loosely upon shaft N, and carrying bevel-gears 0 0. This sleeve is provided at both ends with clutch-faces,which take alternately into one or the other of corresponding clutch-faces which are secured to shaft N, as shown plainly in Figs. 1 and 2.

P is a link pivoted at its forward end to shipping-lever p, the vibrating end of which is connected to sleeve 0 by means of a suitable fork or otherwise, whereby the operator can at will cause either of the bevel-wheels 0 0 to engage with a corresponding bevel-gear, o,

which is attached or cast in the same piece with the sprocket-wheel B or the driver can shift the sleeve and the bevel-gears which are carried by it to such position that neither of them shall engage with bevel-gear 0 By an examination of the drawings, in connection with the foregoing description, it will IOO be readily understood that by means of the" lever K and its connection with clutch O O the driver can connect the crank with the gear B'flwhereby when the engine is running a conalso be understood that by the shipping mecl1 anism which connects the lever with the member O c c of the clutch and the engine-shaft A the requisite amount of power can be applied to force the clutch members into contact withoutproducing any thrust upon the engine shaft, and that therefore the endwise movement of this shaft and consequent objectionable thrust upon its bearings which exist in other engines of this character is entirely obviated. It Will also be seen that no wear upon the engine-shaft is produced by either the sliding member of the clutch or the ring F, because, first, the weight of the sliding member of the clutch and of the spurgear B is practically supported by the bracket 1; and, secondly, because the interposed thimble will receive the wear, if there should be any friction upon the inner face of the sleeve 0, to which the sliding member of the clutch and the spur-gear B are attached.

Of course the thimble a can be easily released if it becomes worn, as can also the two flanges d,- and in order to facilitate the removal of these latter flanges I propose to secure them in place upon the engine-shaft by means of rivets through the shaft.

In Fig. 7 I have shown a modified construction of the gear employed for driving the sprocket-wheel B in which I employ a bevel-gear attached to the sleeve 0 and meshing directly with the bevel-gear upon the shaft N, using in connection therewith the same mechanisms for sliding the clutch member as are employed in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. \Vhile I prefer to use the forked bar F, to which thelever J is pivoted, (because by means of this bar I. apply the thrust equally to opposite sides of the ring R) yet I do not wish to be limited to this construction, because I might pivot said lever directly to the upper face of said ring without departing from the spirit of that part of my invention which relates to connecting the shipping-lever to the engine-shaft in such manner that the power employed in actuating the movable member of the friction-clutch shall not produce an end-thrust of the engineshaft upon its bearings. I

With the parts above described I have shown a combined compensating gear and friction-clutch upon the countershaft I), this being the shaft to which the power is carried by the chain, and from which'it is transmitted .to the drive-wheels through pinions b.

The compensating gear proper may be of any of the well-known forms, sofar as the details of construction are concerned, except that the driving-wheel thereof (represented in the'drawings by b) has a beveled or conical periphery adapted to engage with a correspondingbeveled or conical part. This opposite conical part is shown as having the peripheral portion R, a sliding hub, R, and an intermediate connecting part consisting either of a plate or of spokes. This part B R can be moved to and fro on the shaft 1) by means of any suitable shifting mechanism,alever being shown'at 1' adapted to this purpose.

Inthe construction of compensating gear which 1 have adopted herein for illustration. one bevel-wheel, b", is keyed to the shaft, and the opposite one, b", is loose thereon, but is rigidly connected to the drive-pinion Z). The latter is preferably recessed upon its outer face, that it may receive a plate or disk, S, which, when held in place by means of a bolt, 8, joins together the keyed wheel I) and loose wheel I) and the pinion I). The keyed wheel I) has an elongated huh, I), which furnishes a hearing or mounting for the sliding portion R R.

Upon the outer face of the periphery It there are sprocket-teeth which engage with the chain I), the said chain rotating part B It from 9 the upper chain-wheel,l3 It will be seen that if the said wheel B be in motion and the part R'R be in its innermost position it will be loosely rotated independently of the other parts; but if, by means of the lever r, it be thrust outward its hollow cone will engage with the conical part b by frictional contact, and when the resulting engagement becomes strong enough rotation will be imparted to the part b", and by it, through the pinion b the shaft 1) and pinion b will be rotated.

I am aware that friction-clutches have been attached to the main shafts of engines; but experience has shown that at the points where hitherto they have been used they have been heated to such an extent as to become, under many circumstances, unmanageable, fromthe fact that the parts are by the action of the heat stuck together and made inseparable. The engine-shaft is upon the upper sideof the boiler, and therefore heat is not only largely carried to the friction-clutch by conduction, but receives much ialso that is generated by the friction of the neighboring parts. When arranged in the manner herein shown, it is aloof from all these heating agencies and the sliding part can at any time be readily detached from the stationary portion.

By combining the clutch and compensating gear in the manner I have stated I attain great advantages over the construction heretofore clutch-faces were disengaged said intermedi ate parts would still be affected if there were any motion from the traction-wheels. When the parts are related as I have herein shown, the disconnecting of the clutch and the compensating gear is virtually the disconnection of the traction-wheels immediately from all the other parts of the engine.

I do not wish to be limited to the exact form of combined clutch and gear which I have shown, as modifications will readily suggest themselves to those acquainted with such structures.

I do not claim, broadly, the combination, with the friction-clutch, of asupport independent of the shaft to take the weight of the loose member of the clutch off from the shaft; butI am not aware that devices constructed and arranged as herein shown and described have been ever heretofore known or used.

What I claim is- 1. The combination, with the engine-shaft, the sliding clutch, and the two collars loose on said shaft, of the levers respectively connected loosely to said collars, and the levers J ,pivoted to both of said levers, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the engineshaft, the sliding clutch, and the two collars loose on said shaft, of the levers respectively connected loosely to said collars, the lever J, pivoted to both of said levers, and devices extending to the engineers platform for operating said lever J substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the main shaft, mount- .ed in two or more bearings, the clutch thereon, the shifting collar for the clutch, the thimble and the part O,loosely surrounding said shaft,

of the detachable thlmble keyed to the shaft within the loose part, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with the chain-wheel and the shifting mechanism for imparting the power tosaid wheel alternately in opposite directions, of the link and the support for said link overhanging the chain-wheel, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with the tractionwheels, of acompensating gear having an outer power-transmitting peripheral portion, beveled or made conical, and a hollow conical part provided with teeth, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination, with the tractionwheels, independent of each other, the counter-shaft, and pinions upon said counter-shaft, respectively connected with the intermediate gear-wheels, 11 12 of the part b for transmitting power to said pinions, and the-sliding part R R, arranged, substantially as set forth, to be brought into frictional engagement with the part b, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. lELWARD.

Witnesses:

H. H. BLIss, M. P. CALLAN. 

